Full Review for Dissidia: Final Fantasy by dragonx254

Introduction

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is the latest Final Fantasy game for the PSP. Unlike the previous Final Fantasies, this one is not in the genre of RPG; it is classified as a Fighter Game. There are no new characters (except Cosmos), because all of the main characters in the game are from previous Final Fantasies. The story revolves around the never-ending conflict between Cosmos, goddess of Harmony, and Chaos, god of Discord. The two gods have brought the Final Fantasy characters to them as warriors to fight. However, Cosmos loses, and now you must gather the Crystals in order to have a hope of saving the world.

Graphics

Dissidia: Final Fantasy has about the same graphics quality as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. However, there are not as many "good graphics" scenes (there are only two). Even so, the game shows the power of the PSP system visually. Characters from previous Final Fantasies have been enhanced graphically since most of them are from games that are very old, so a true 3-D render of them really hasn't been done before. However, regardless of this, you can still tell who each character is if you've played previous FF's. All arenas in the game are from previous FF's as well, and each one has some unique aspects to it, with destructible environment and glowing rails, the whole visual aspect of the game really adds to it's rating.

Sound

Sound is always a huge part of any game. Music, SFX, and voices add to the experience a gamer has when they play. Dissidia delivers in all of these. Other than the theme of Dissidia and a few other songs, songs played in battle are all songs from previous FF's. However, each one has been remade orchestrally, making them sound a lot better. The songs chosen are the ones most easily recognized from the games, but also songs that relate to fighting. After all, the majority of the game is in battle. Voices have also been added to all characters, with returning voice actors for characters whose voice has been featured somewhere else (i.e. Steve Burton for Cloud). Because of this, FF fans will be very pleased with the dialogue.

Gameplay

Dissidia is one of the few Final Fantasies that break away from the RPG format: travel across the world, level up, meet new people, etc.. Instead, it is more of an arcade type of battling. You control your character 100%: jumping, dodging, attacking, and so on. Because of this, battles are a lot more realistic in a sense. However, if you are an "old-school" type of gamer, there is an option for Command-Style fighting, where there's a small pop up menu, to choose between fighting and dodging, just by hitting X. All movements are automatic, so it's less stressful. Battling can be a bit confusing however. There are "bravery" attacks and "HP" attacks. Bravery determines your attack strength. When you do bravery attacks, you steal your opponent's bravery, increasing attack "power". This does no actual damage to the opponent, you must then use an "HP" attack to deal damage equal to your bravery. However, after attacking, your bravery goes to 0, and then slowly goes back to it's base amount, which can be a bit annoying. There is also "Ex Force" which allows your character to unleash a powerful attack, much like Overdrives in FFX and limits in FFVII. The whole battling process is fun once you get used to it. The only downside is that each character only has a limited moveset. Also, battles can get quite repetitive (or frustrating, depending on your skill level). Other than that, the whole game experience is pretty well-made.

Lastability

As with any fighting game, multi-player is a must. Unfortunately, there is only Ad-Hoc multi-player, not Wi-Fi. You can only play people you know basically, which hurts it's lastability. However, unlike other FF's, where after the story is done, that's basically it (other than side quests), because Dissidia is arcade based, you can battle many times and not get bored of it. There are many possible fighter combinations, as well as unique weapons for each character. There's also an additional campaign after the first one is over (though it is much harder). However, with increased difficulty there is more gameplay hours, so the game should last a long time.

Overall

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a must-have for anyone who has played previous FF's. With the return of fan favorites like Cloud and Cecil, players are sure to enjoy it. Even those who have only played a few might want to try this game just to see how good a non-RPG Final Fantasy is. For those that have not played any of the FF's before, the story line may be confusing, as many aspects from the previous games are integrated into the whole storyline (i.e. Tidus' hatred of his father). So, for brand new Final Fantasy players, this game should be something to think about after playing a few. For all FF fans out there, this game is definitely great and worth buying, UMD, or Direct Download off the PSN. Because of it's style, music, gameplay, and graphics, overall score is worth 9 out of 10.

Final Score: 88%